Tornadoes · United States · Texas · 2006

F0 tornado, Hansford County, Texas, June 21, 2006

This F0 tornado ran 0.2 miles across Hansford County on June 21, 2006, touching down at 5:38 PM CDT and reaching 50 yards wide. It killed nobody.

The rating scale

Tracks are drawn in the color of the rating. The Fujita scale rates the damage rather than measuring the wind: the speeds are what that damage is taken to imply.

  1. F040 to 72 mphthis tornado

    Light damage. Surface peeled off some roofs, gutters and siding damaged, branches broken, shallow-rooted trees pushed over.

  2. F173 to 112 mph

    Moderate damage. Roofs badly stripped, mobile homes overturned or badly damaged, exterior doors lost, windows broken.

  3. F2113 to 157 mph

    Considerable damage. Roofs torn off well-built houses, frame homes shifted on their foundations, mobile homes destroyed, large trees snapped or uprooted, cars lifted off the ground.

  4. F3158 to 206 mph

    Severe damage. Whole stories of well-built houses destroyed, large buildings badly damaged, trains overturned, trees debarked, heavy cars lifted and thrown.

  5. F4207 to 260 mph

    Devastating damage. Well-built houses leveled, structures with weak foundations moved some distance, cars thrown and large missiles generated.

  6. F5261 to 318 mph

    Incredible damage. Strong frame houses swept off their foundations, car-sized missiles thrown more than 100 meters, steel-reinforced concrete badly damaged, high-rise buildings deformed.

  7. Unrated

    The survey recorded a tornado but could not put a number on it, most often because it crossed open country and damaged nothing a rating can be read from.

The record

Rating
F0
Date
June 21, 2006
Touchdown
5:38 PM CDT (22:38 UTC)
Path length
0.2 miles (0.3 km)
Path width
50 yards (46 m)
Deaths
0
Injuries
0
County
Hansford County
Touchdown point
36.200, -101.280
Lift-off point
36.200, -101.280
Record number
656

The warnings

No tornado warning for this county appears in the archive as in force at the moment the tornado touched down. One was issued for the county at another hour that day.

The county was under a severe thunderstorm watch, issued at 20:39 UTC and running to 04:00 UTC.

Issued (UTC)ExpiredProductOffice
20:39 UTC04:00 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WatchAMA
22:26 UTC23:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningAMA
22:44 UTC23:30 UTCTornado WarningAMA
23:31 UTC00:30 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningAMA
00:13 UTC00:45 UTCTornado WarningAMA
00:45 UTC01:45 UTCSevere Thunderstorm WarningAMA

Every warning and watch covering the touchdown point that day, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service products. Lead time is measured from the issue of the warning in force to the touchdown time in the database, both of which were recorded to the minute by different people.

The forecast that day

The Storm Prediction Center had this point in a Slight Risk. The outlook in force was issued at 20:03 UTC.

SPC's Day 1 convective outlook as it stood when the tornado began, read at the touchdown point. The same archive is on the radar archive.

The air that afternoon

The radiosonde launches on either side of the tornado, from the nearest station that was launching then, drawn and analyzed the way Storm Lab does: the same diagram, the same parcel and shear definitions SPC's mesoanalysis uses.

Amarillo Airport, TX (KAMA), 12:00Z

10.6 hours before the tornado, 114 km from the path. June 21, 2006.

Skew-T log-pSkew-T log-p diagram, Amarillo Airport, TX at 12:00Z on 2006-06-21Temperature and dew point through the depth of the atmosphere, with the mixed-layer parcel lifted from the surface. Mixed-layer CAPE 2270 joules per kilogram, CIN -310, lifted condensation level 1418 meters above ground. Wind barbs in knots down the right edge.LCLLFCEL10008507005003002001001 km2 km3 km6 km9 km12 km15 km-30°-20°-10°10°20°30°40°
Temperature in red, dew point in green, the mixed-layer parcel dashed. The warm shading is its CAPE, the cool shading the inhibition it has to break through.
HodographHodograph, Amarillo Airport, TX at 12:00Z on 2006-06-21The wind through the lowest 10 kilometers as a curve, rings every 10 meters per second labeled in knots. Zero to 1 km storm-relative helicity 171 square meters per square second, 0 to 6 km bulk shear 14 knots.193958Sfc1 km3 km6 km9 kmRMLM
The wind turning with height, colored by layer: ground to 1 km, 1 to 3 km, 3 to 6 km, 6 to 10 km. RM and LM are the right and left moving storms Bunkers' method gives; the shaded area is the 0 to 1 km storm-relative helicity.
Mixed-layer CAPE
2270 J/kg
Mixed-layer CIN
-310 J/kg
Surface CAPE
836 J/kg
Mixed-layer LCL
1418 m above ground
0-6 km bulk shear
14 kt
0-1 km bulk shear
29 kt
0-1 km storm-relative helicity
171 m²/s²
0-3 km storm-relative helicity
351 m²/s²
Significant tornado parameter
0.0
Supercell composite
8.6
0-3 km lapse rate
4.3 K/km

Open this sounding in Storm Lab

The radar

The Amarillo radar (KAMA), 114 km away, was scanning. The volume nearest the touchdown began at 22:38 UTC.

Open the radar archive at this moment, over the track

Reflectivity and velocity, decoded from the Level II archive in the browser. Volumes take a few seconds to open the first time.

What was reported nearby

Local storm reports within 60 km of the path, in the three hours either side.

Time (UTC)ReportWhereCountyRemark
22:38 UTCTORNADO5 W SpearmanHansford, TXLAW ENFORCEMENT REPORTED TORNADO ON THE GROUND 5 MILES WEST OF SPEARMAN
23:15 UTCHAIL 0.883 Nw SpearmanHansford, TXSHERIFF REPORTED PENNY TO NICKEL HAIL IN CENTER OF COUNTY BETWEEN SPEARMAN AND GRUVER.
23:25 UTCHAIL 0.883 Nw SpearmanHansford, TXSHERIFF REPORTED PENNY TO NICKEL HAIL IN CENTER OF COUNTY BETWEEN SPEARMAN AND GRUVER.
23:25 UTCHAIL 0.883 Nw SpearmanHansford, TXSHERIFF REPORTED PENNY TO NICKLE HAIL IN CENTER OF COUNTY BETWEEN SPEARMAN AND GRUVER.
23:38 UTCHAIL 1GruverHansford, TXSO RELAYED REPORT OF QUARTER HAIL NEAR GRUVER.
23:48 UTCTORNADO8 Wnw MorseHansford, TXRAIN WRAPPED LANDSPOUT 8 WNW OF MORSE
00:08 UTCTORNADO10 Ene SunraySherman, TXBRIEF TORNADO TOUCHDOWN. BEGAN AT 708 PM ENDED AT 710 PM
00:10 UTCTORNADO15 Ne SundraySherman, TXNEAR ROADS 1060 AND HW 520 IN SE SHERMAN COUNTY MOVING INTO HANSFORD COUNTY.
00:10 UTCTORNADO15 Ne SunraySherman, TXNEAR ROADS 1060 AND HW 520 IN SE SHERMAN COUNTY MOVING INTO HANSFORD COUNTY.
00:20 UTCTORNADO7 W GruverHansford, TX

From the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service local storm reports.

This ground now

The live radar over the trackEvery 2006 tornado in TexasEvery tornado in Texas since 1950Warnings in force in Texas nowThe forecast where you are

The other tornadoes of June 21, 2006

13 more were confirmed in the United States that day.

DateTimeRatingWherePath (mi)Width (yd)DeathsInjuriesDamage
June 213:45 PM CDTF0Deaf Smith, TX0.125
June 216:10 PM EDTF0Lenawee, MI2.2100$40,000
June 215:30 PM CDTF0Hansford, TX0.250
June 217:17 PM EDTF2Charlotte, FL3.0703$500,000
June 216:24 PM CDTF0Texas, OK0.250
June 215:25 PM MDTF1Rio Blanco, CO1.050$40,000
June 216:27 PM CDTF0Beaver, OK0.150
June 217:27 PM EDTF0Charlotte, FL0.530$30,000
June 216:27 PM CDTF0Beaver, OK0.150
June 216:46 PM CDTF1Texas, OK2.0300$700,000
June 217:08 PM CDTF0Sherman, TX0.125
June 217:10 PM CDTF0Hansford, TX0.250
June 216:46 PM MDTF0Yuma, CO0.320

What this means

Ratings are the survey's, read off the damage rather than measured; the rating scale is above. Tornado counts rise through the record as reporting improved, so a year in the 1950s is not comparable with one today except for the strongest tornadoes, which were always noticed.

Sources

NOAA Storm Prediction Center tornado database, 1950-2025, the official record kept by NOAA's Storm Prediction Center.